The EU Commission Vice is concerned about some positions in the negotiations. The goal is to find an agreement.
(Photo: AP)
Sharm el Sheikh EU Commission Vice Frans Timmermans made it clear at the world climate conference in Egypt that the EU will not cross certain red lines in the struggle for a breakthrough. “It’s better to have no result than a bad one,” Timmermans told reporters at the meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on Saturday morning.
We are very concerned about some positions in the negotiations that have dragged on overnight. They will struggle to reach an agreement until the end, but if necessary they are prepared to leave the conference without an explanation.
Ambitious formulations that promote the urgently needed containment of climate change are important to the EU. “1.5 degrees must not die here today,” said the climate protection commissioner with a view to the internationally agreed limit that one wants to comply with in order to avert the most catastrophic consequences of global warming.
“If you don’t do enough to reduce emissions and meet the 1.5 degree target, there will be no amount of money in the world to alleviate the suffering that natural disasters will cause,” Timmermans warned. You can already see that today, but these catastrophes would increase exponentially if greenhouse gas emissions were not seriously curbed.
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The establishment of a financial pot for climate damage is particularly controversial at the climate conference. The EU is open to an agreement here, but only in line with more ambitious climate targets and the condition that the money only goes to poorer, particularly vulnerable countries.
Baerbock threatens the meeting to fail
Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has also openly threatened that the European Union would accept the failure of the UN meeting if necessary. “We will not agree to any proposals that roll back the 1.5 degree target.”
And no one will agree to any proposals that call into question the freedoms of future generations, said the Green politician on Saturday in Sharm el-Sheikh. However, proposals have been circulated that indicate that no country will have to increase its climate protection ambitions in the next ten years. “Then the 1.5 degree target would die here at this conference. And the European Union isn’t going along with that,” she stressed.
The Foreign Minister found clear words at the world climate conference.
(Photo: AP)
In 2015, the states agreed in Paris to limit warming to 1.5 degrees compared to pre-industrial times. The world has now warmed up by a good 1.1 degrees, Germany even more. According to scientific warnings, exceeding the 1.5-degree mark significantly increases the risk of triggering so-called tipping elements in the climate system and thus uncontrollable chain reactions.
Baerbock said global warming and its consequences, such as more frequent droughts, storms and floods, are already bringing many of the most vulnerable countries to the brink of collapse – and they need help. You’re not just in Egypt “to produce paper,” she said.
“We are here to keep the 1.5 degree goal alive.” The conference in Egypt must take a big step forward, she said. “If others here want to bury the 1.5 degree path, then we say clearly: We won’t go along with that.”
dissatisfaction on all sides
COP President Samih Shukri said in Sharm el-Sheikh on Saturday: “There is an equal level of dissatisfaction from all sides.”
However, the participants from around 200 countries wanted to continue to discuss a possible final declaration. However, a “large majority” indicated that they considered the draft to be “balanced” and the basis for a “potential breakthrough,” Schukri said. It is now up to the participants to come to an agreement.
Schukri avoided the question of a possible failure, for example if individual countries ended the negotiations because the climate commitments in the text were too weak. “Each party has the full right to join or not join a consensus.”
The conference, which has been running for two weeks, was supposed to end on Friday. After nightly negotiations on various draft texts, she went into the first day of extra time on Saturday.
More: The negotiations at the climate conference in Egypt are tough – these are the reasons